


But Gods Don't Bleed?

by Rasuisefu



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Poly, Background Relationships, Because of Reasons, Bisexual Female Character, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Everyone Is Gay, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, I feel so much for Nyriad, I feel so much for Tyreen, I wrote this for me but you can read it too if you want, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Not Ashamed, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, Lesbians in Space, Light BDSM, Name-Calling, Other, Past Abuse, Polyamorous Character, Power Dynamics, Trauma, Tyreen Calypso Deserves Happiness, Women Being Awesome, sapphics on bikes, sapphics winning, send help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:22:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29316273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rasuisefu/pseuds/Rasuisefu
Summary: Tyreen prayed they started fucking paying attention.
Relationships: Tyreen Calypso/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	But Gods Don't Bleed?

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this during a time of desperation and understanding. I am better now and I hope this gives you comfort. You're a survivor like me.

Borderlands: But Gods Don’t Bleed?

The ECHO plays:

_Ba-ra-ta-ta!_ _Ba-ra-ta-ta!_

Gunfire. She knows the sound well. Troy looms over her shoulder, but she pushes his face away with her palm, turning towards her room in one of their most secure bases yet on Pandora. Troy snarls something selfish at her back and Tyreen raises a middle finger to him before the door slams shut behind her. She knew he was starving just as much as she, disappointed that their followers only could give so much at a time. They also needed money. Information was a hot market and she wondered if this ECHO could blackmail someone to push some money across a table for silence. She shrugged out of her large jacket and frees herself of her boots, her tattoos pulsing softly now that she was alone. She flopped onto her thin bed, twisting an ankle over her right knee as she rested the ECHO device on her stomach. Tyreen presses play after a moment of minor shifting to get into a comfortable position to enjoy the sounds of someone’s life coming apart.

But when the gunfire sounds again and the name of the speaker displays—

-D I O N E -

In a slow-moving, crisp font, across the middle of the tiny holoscreen the smile that forms is frozen halfway because the false goddess is screaming, her voice thick with tears and confusion. Explosions were ringing in the background. Gunfire. Yelling. Dione gasping—

[Dione: Shit! Father! KING JACOB—shit, no, no—

Jacob: Here…! Dione—

Dione: Father! What—god, what in Her name did they do to their King?

Jacob: They’ve got me, baby. I did all I could and so they killed me—

Jacob: *COUGHING, SPITTING*

Dione: D-dad--!

Jacob: You must leave, listen to me! Leave! When you’re far away, even then, keep going. If they want your blood this bad…I fear…they will have it…

Dione: Please, Dad—I—can’t do this, I can’t—not like this!

Jacob: …Love you, baby…

Dione: DAD!

Soldier: There she is! Destroy her before she can escape!

Dione: Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll make this planet a graveyard big enough for you.]

It was a while before Tyreen realized the ECHO stopped playing as she tried to fit the idea of the false goddess from their spats across the ECHOnet and the one she had heard just now. Dione had emotions behind her cool exterior and maybe Tyreen could play them on her way to getting rid of her once and for all. She had never seen Dione in person, but the ratings did spike when she interrupted Devoid lines enough that Dione came online. It was becoming poisonous, Troy warned because children were stupid and easily swayed. Had Dione not swayed those to join her without shedding their blood?

He felt the same about engaging her. They could not beat her numbers in a brute attack. 

Tyreen sighed, frowning, as she settled onto her side. She would work it out in her dreams and decide tomorrow.

She dreamed of what would happen if Sirens never lost their fathers.

-

“Tribute Valley!”

“Ah, Valley of Tributes, we’re growing.”

Dione slowly pauses strapping on her holster under her left arm to look at Ken glaring up at Craig like he just said the dumbest thing. She thought both names sounded great, but their squabble made it easier to slip on her guns to her hip and legs. The cloak she threw on was nondescript but still showed someone with stability to a trained eye. It fell to her knees, a diagonal opening towards the collar for needed legroom and a high collar that rose to cover her nose. 

“Who the fuck on this rock is going to remember all those syllables?” Ken demanded as Dione leaped from her window. One of her Zealots under her window jumped to the side when she landed in front of him making a choked sound of surprise as his beer fell from his hands. Dione raised a finger to her covered lips, her mischief expressed in the squint of her eyes, before she turned around and continued on her path out of the compound towards one Catch-A-Ride that was located closest to her exit.

Her customized Cyclone was constructed before her eyes and she wasted no time entering the driver’s seat and peeling out of her territory. The wind whipped at her cloak and hair and for a moment she regretted not braiding the front of her hair tighter to her scalp, but as she looked back upon the valley as she ascended on the hilled highway, a faint touch of worry replaced her previous agitation. Seemingly in response to her moment of apprehension Ken’s voice yelled through the small dashboard that contained the ECHO.

“Where are you?! Aren’t we supposed to name this place or not?!”

Dione chuckled, “Am I not a Vault Hunter?”

She could hear the _squinting_ of Ken’s eyes and felt his glare through his voice that demanded, “So you’re going to leave it to us? Finally??”

“Tribute Valley sounds nice,” she admitted. “There.”

“Okay, but—“ Ken protested, his voice dropping the angry undertones at the swiftness of her response. He wanted to be angry it seemed, or at least phrase it in an angry way, so his next words sounded petulant, “I thought we were supposed to go on an adventure today?”

Caught on a whim to head to some distant point, Dione had completely forgotten, but to say that to Ken would guarantee another hour of complaints.

“How about I bring you something back in apology?”

“It better be an artifact,” he snapped.

“Am I the goddess or are you, Ken?” she replied, causing him to laugh.

“I’ll leave you to your hunt, just be safe, our goddess.”

“I’ll check in with you all later. Out.”

The conversation ceased and Dione spent the next hour and a half in relative silence, outside of the hum of the Cyclone and distant gunfire as she avoids the main routes into hot territories. She drove until the landscape passed from grass to sand, and back to the fertile ground again and by the time she pulled into what used to be known as the Holy Spirits, the stars were winking in the dark sky. The Zafords had finally been chased from the area after they were weakened from their clan war. Unsurprisingly, it eventually became one of Moxxi’s side gigs, so Dione left it alone until it was time to collect on her free drinks. When she stepped into Giggle Juice, most of the patrons turned or turned their gaze her way. Instantaneously the mood chilled by a degree or two for they knew her colors and knew what she had done; when Dione smiled, a pretty and thin one that did not reach her eyes, their baleful eyes left her. 

The owner, a man by the name of Brenton Jaeger rushed to Dione’s side, eyes tight with hate as he extended a hand towards her in greeting. Dione did not take it and he did not increase the level of ire in his gaze—he at least knew how to toe the line properly—and greeted her with a cheery voice.

“S’been a long damn time since you’ve come to these parts, Dione. What can I get you? Wine?” 

Dione stepped deeper into the bar, noting any possible structure changes, before turning her small smile on Jaeger, “Oh you could get me quite a few things, Jaeger, if only you had the balls—“

Jaeger’s laugh sputtered from him, a mix of fear and humor, as he scratched the back of his bald head to break gazes with her. She made sure to win in these petty games he insisted on playing with her and one tactic was to remind him how he failed in his attempted betrayal of her. In space when everyone’s head had a price, Jaeger had made the wrong choice in thinking he could sell out Dione’s visits to a bandit leader. A shame, considering it was Kendal who played him all along. Pandora had been pretty quiet concerning upstarts attempting to break pieces of Dione’s power to themselves after that.

“I know what you need to ease that crankiness, Dione,” Jaeger grinned, as he leads them to the bar, yanking out a stool for her before he walked behind the counter himself. But he licked his cracked lips, gazing at some point beyond Dione when he looked back down at her.

The patrons on either side of Dione scattered, the one that was too slow to stand, Dione reached up and grasped his shoulder. He sighed, easing back into his seat—thin, wiry, and dirty he was but his eyes shook as he stared at the counter while Dione removed her hand. Jaeger was returning to Dione with a sealed bottle of the heaviest liquor he owned.

“Top shelf, for our busy goddess gracing us with her presence tonight,” he smiled as he opened it.

“Make sure to pour one for my friend here, ah, your name?” Dione asked the man, looking at him.

“Phil,” the man whimpered.

“Phil,” Dione smiled at Jaeger while he and Phil held gazes. “Have you heard about this new god-queen?”

“The heretic of the north?” Jaeger asked as he grabbed two tall glasses from the bar. The streams of dark liquor shook as they filled the glasses one by one. “She’s causing quite a storm, isn’t she? With her Children of the Vault. Pah, some say she may even rival our own living goddess on this side of Pandora.”

“Really?” Dione asked, resting her chin on her left palm. The material of her suit squeaked underneath her cloak as she shifted her weight, a picture of curiosity. “I mean I’ve seen bits and pieces of her streams, but not so much what makes her special.”

“Oh, Dione, been too busy building your empire? I meant we never thought the Dragon of the North would show their face, much less side with the Siren who scarred part of Pandora on a whim. Yet you accomplished it. The Firehawk too, she enjoys your company as well?”

Dione giggled, “Not very much, I think. She tolerates me.”

Jaeger rests his hips against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. “But your Sirens are a curious bunch, aren’t ya? All women, all hot, all with glowing tattoos—yet her twin, with a dick between his legs I’m sure, got dem same tattoos as you there. Curious, don’tcha think?”

Dione raised a brow, “Curious.”

“But you mentioned you ain’t never seen her suck the soul outta body? Ain’ never seen the husks she left behind?” Jaeger asked, shaking his head. “Ain’t no way, lady, you can’t turn on one ECHO without hearin’ or seein’ one of her followers offering their life to her greater power.”

She tilted her head, blinking slowly up at Jaeger and his gesturing. Dione murmured, “You sound like a fan,” as she turned to Phil, “Aren’t you thirsty?”

“Not, particular-like—no, ma’am, I’m not,” he admitted, shoulders hunched as he kept his dirty eyes on the liquor before him.

“Shame. So, what else, Jaeger? She steals their lives and what, everyone goes into hysterics?” she asks, turning her attention back to the bartender.

“Essentially so, she means to lead Pandora into a new era—“

“Oh come on, Phil,” Dione sighed, motioning to the drink before him. “My friends couldn’t come out tonight and I hate drinking alone. One sip?”

Phil smiled faintly, “Ladies first.”

“I bought the bottle, Phil,” Dione smiled as her iridescent eyes snapped to a dark brown like his own. “It’s on me, as you say.” Phil’s eyes rolled up to the rim of the glass and he suddenly grabbed it, brought it to his lips and took a swig from it. Dione chuckled, clapping him on the back, “Loosen up, Phil, it’s a beautiful night among friends.”

Jaeger coughed into his elbow as he leaned onto the counter to gather Dione’s attention again. “Be careful, Dione, I think God-Queen Tyreen might be trickier than the regulars.”

“I know you don’t think highly of me Jaeger, but calling me an idiot is taking it too far,” she laughed. “I mean picking up on your guttural tongue was hard enough! Isn’t that right, Phil? Phil?”

Phil’s breathing was short and choppy, veins bulging at his neck, and his eyes were bloodshot. Dione called his name in surprise as foam frothed at his mouth before his body fell from the stool and fell to the floor with a heavy sound. Dione had flicked her left fingers as Jaeger vaulted over the counter. There was a flash of dark energy, a chilling wave of death that spread through the room from the quarter-sized black dot that had appeared at Jaeger’s elbow and vanished. His forearm vanished along with the dot and without the arm there to support his body, Jaeger’s torso fell against the counter and rolled onto the floor in a spray of blood and agonized screams. Those smart enough to listen to their instinct to flee met a similar end to their very lives. A man howled towards the back of the bar, “Tonight was my last drink before sobriety!”

Jeager reached for his gun only for Dione’s boot to crush his wrist in its place, drawing out another painful cry from the man. Her smile was malefic, her eyes a raging pink, as she asked him, “You truly thought I wouldn’t know when someone on this side of Pandora would turn against Devoid, Brenton Jaeger?”

“Dione! Wait, I can tell you where the twins stash their supplies—“ he offered, begging her with wide eyes.

“On the outskirts of Ascension bluff? Where Troy and Tyreen can barely keep it safe from rouge bandits?” Dione asked as she removed her Maliwan pistol from her hip, flicking off the safety as she checked the indicator to see how many bullets remained in the gun. “Perhaps the abandoned Hyperion factory I cleared out and did not take? Oh!” Dione put her free hand on her hip, before she killed the man she heard trying to escape from the window to her left with a snap, and looked back down to Jaeger as if she remembered something important, “It was the one you’ve been sending money to, Old Sanctuary right?”

“I—I—“ Jaeger sobbed, tears welling in his eyes before they rolled down his temples. “Dione!”

“I hear that those that die by my hand go into space even I can’t reach, forever sustained, forever conscious. I’ll make sure to contain your entire head so you can watch the pieces of your body float. Fucking traitor.”

Jaeger screamed until the sounds gurgled. Dione disposed of his head last, before she swiped her clean hands through her wavy bangs and let out a long breath. She raised her eyes and they were their neutral iridescent color and she revealed an expression that was apologetic as she lifted her hands.

“This is all for security, hahaha, so for those of you who are innocent—forgive me.”

After her words the first body fell, decapitated, and the screaming began anew.

-

Rising from her personalized outrunner, Tyreen stood from the cab, angling herself towards the bar Brenton decided would be their hub for trading information. The first thing she saw was Dione’s form stumbling from Giggle Juice before the odd silence confirmed what she had feared—she was too late and Dione had found her informant. Tyreen began her approach, taking note again of Dione’s stumbling towards her Cyclone, believing the false goddess to be injured, too drunk to stand, or hopefully both. Dione wore all black, her cloak shifting around her form as she fought to gain footing as she staggered, but her dark hair caught the moonlight. Seeing the green strands go silvery the thought crossed Tyreen’s mind that on a night like this could have been one Dione lost her father. It had been in the night that she and Troy left, too. In her unwanted moment of wishing for common ground between them, Dione flourished into a standing position, aiming her pistol directly at Tyreen. 

Tyreen froze and when Dione staggered to the side, she sneered a grin at her, raspy voice baiting her, “Who knew a goddess that did not know how to handle her booze? I mean—“

The shot buzzed past her ear and the burning pain, followed by what was undoubtedly blood, rolling down her ear, caused Tyreen to bear her teeth as Dione raised her hands as she shrugged, asking, “But gods don’t bleed? I mean, that’s what I’ve heard. Seems like you’re just as false as me, little goddess.”

Tyreen spat an empty laugh, “Does it matter when you’re not alive to tell the truth?”

But Dione was reloading her pistol, brightly colored pink, black, and white, focusing her attention wholly upon her gun. Her silence boiled her blood and Tyreen decided that the woman who had the possibility to feel a full spectrum of emotions no longer existed before her, probably died along with her father, and instead she faced her shell who gave bitting blithe remarks at her expense. Or leveled her with such a cold gaze Tyreen was not sure who could devour who. An aforementioned remark was working its way out of Dione’s mouth as she clicked the magazine tightly into place. Her gun though rang out with a taunt carrying Tyreen’s voice:

“Awww did you run out of bullets?”

Tyreen narrowed her eyes while swallowing the nervous lump that had formed in her throat. She seethed, “You didn’t die for that.”

Dione spun the compact pistol, before tucking it back into a holster hidden by her cloak. She smiled at Tyreen, the light in her eyes dancing, “Found it on one of your foolish Children trading shots with one of mine. Anyway, it was a big help slaying those traitorous bastards in Giggle Juice! Killing your followers while your voice tells me how unclean I am is making this whole thing a lot more fun.”

“I see you were smart enough to remove the tracker and speakers in it,” Tyreen said in her tone that was always snarling, ready to lace her fearmongering with insults. “Didn’t want me to know where you were getting off with it.”

Dione scoffed before laughing, “You’re lucky I didn’t keep them in to set you up instead.” 

Tyreen dragged her eyes from Dione’s eyes---they had changed about five times in hue already—to her feet and back up again as Dione approached her. Her stance was open, relaxed, and Tyreen realized that Dione did have something to drink by the time she arrived. Tyreen refused to back down but kept her eyes wary for any unnecessary movement. Still, she attempted to keep Dione away with her words and attitude, a feat that would prove difficult.

“Why didn’t you, faker? Worried it would be more than you could handle?”

“I have similar guns made—when I was rising to fame—praising those who would kill in my name, instead,” Dione replied, eyes darkening into a deep grey before Tyreen’s eyes. “But no tracker, I’m not so paranoid about my followers, you see---ah, what I mean is…I knew they would come to me.”

Her full lips spread slowly as she held Tyreen’s gaze and she was so close Tyreen’s hands shook behind her own oversized jacket. Dione was much prettier in person and seeing her in the spread of Mad Moxxi’s old magazine could not compare to seeing her in the moonlight and the realization made Tyreen silently lament over her prior ignorance. But the smile reached Dione’s darkened eyes and Tyreen glimpsed her belief in her words and zealots. That realization too caused her knees to weaken. 

“Unlike you,” Dione continued, “We don’t require humiliation but I—being reminded that I’m a slut was a bit more than fun if I’m honest.” Dione tapped her pointer finger against her lip and Tyreen’s heart was now roaring in her ears.

“I-inebriation is a humorous look on you,” Tyreen laughed. “Makes you quite chatty. Any more secrets before I kill you?”

“Just wondering if you’d like being called a slut by me as much I enjoyed it—“ Dione was laughing before she could finish, but Tyreen grasped Dione by the collar of her cloak, causing a gasp to interrupt her teasing, her effortless dissecting of something Tyreen knew she would never be able to experience. Perhaps that’s what made her stare more crazed. The desperation in her voice did make Dione smirk.

“Your gun. Where?”

She could now feel the heat of Dione’s body against her own, wondering if the heat was pooling in the bottom of her abdomen was as intense for Dione as the latter’s eyes darkened to black. She had never seen such a hungry look upon her face, never heard her breath deepen and slow, and never had Tyreen wanted to outright touch Dione, letting the consequences lay where they fell. But her mind screaming— _ you’llkillheryou’llkillheryou’llkill _ —kept her from closing the distance. It would be easy though, to get rid of Dione once and for all, she realized.

“Call me ‘Goddess Dione’ and I’ll think about it.”

Even though Tyreen was curious about it, she snarled, “Listen to me,  _ slut _ , tell me where one is or you will be a  _ husk _ .”

“ _ Oh, God-Queen Tyreen, eat me _ ,” Dione moaned, loudly into the night, before she broke into giggles once more. Tyreen growled and shoved Dione back, whose laughter only increased in volume. “Isn’t that what you want to hear, little goddess?  _ Tyreen—oh god, show me _ —pfft— _ show me your power _ ! Ha!” Dione doubled over into laughter as Tyreen glowered at her.

“Drunk bitch,” she seethed lowly. She knew she would be amused if it was anyone else.

“No, no, I almost forgot—“

“What—“

Dione’s fist connected with her jaw. Stars flared across Tyreen’s vision and she stumbled to right herself back to a standing position. Dione kissed her knuckles as Tyreen wiped the blood from her lip while wishing death upon her with her eyes alone. When Tyreen’s tattoos began to glow, Dione whipped her gun out of thin air, leveling it with Tyreen’s forehead before shifting it to her left knee. 

“You’ve been stupid enough,” Dione told her, “So let’s not get crazy. But, I’m feeling gracious tonight so I’ll tip you off to the closest gun. Chalk everything else up to your sexual frustration, little goddess.”

“Fuck you.”

“Aww, but that’s where the gun comes in, remember? Where you kept Vicki, there’s a ledge that leads to the air duct, isn’t it?”

With that Dione backed towards her cyclone until she was able to get into it. The cyclone purred to life, the holowheel lighting with pink light, before she revved the engine and peeled away, but not before circling Tyreen with a kiss blown her way. Tyreen watched her go, face burning with embarrassment and rage, knowing she would visit Ascension Bluff the same night.

-

“Damn, you finally got both of them at the same time?”

Jason, always strangely aware of any situation, creaked open his eyes from Dione’s bed and flicked Kendal off from where she peeked in from the doorway. Ken was curled into him sleeping soundly. Kendal sent Jason a wide grin when Ken moved and Jason dropped his hand to Ken’s dark hair to keep him from fully waking.

“Can’t wait to tell Craig,” she whispered, “He’ll be so excited to know y’all ain’t fighting.”

Jason’s livid glare and very vicious pointing towards the room behind her told Kendal enough of Dione’s previous night to know that her fellow Siren was holding up well. Yet there was a jitter in Dione’s movements today that had Kendal trying to piece together her friend’s nervousness as she moved around her home. Maybe Dione sensed the impending danger.

“Not sure if you received Lilith’s signal last night,” Kendal said, watching with amusement as Dione hopped around her apartment trying to fit in a pair of smaller jeans. “Your ass is too big now that you’ve gotten a steady supply of food. As amusing as it is, I don’t think it’ll be great when you clip the table, ya hear me?”

Dione yanked her pants off and threw them across the room. Clearly at least one of her nerves had fried, as she demanded, “What! What did Lilith want? She knows how to reach me—“

Kendal smirked, a bit of tooth showing as she admitted, “She said she attempted to, but when she heard Tyreen’s voice—that wasn’t from that damned gun—she did not want to blow your cover. Said you sounded drunk, said you told her about some gun?”

Dione’s blushing face made Kendal’s eyes narrow and she mumbled a defense, “I  _ was _ drunk. Had to clean out the bar and some of their bottles too.”

Dione found an excuse to quickly turn around while Kendal continued to stare at her back. She didn’t say anything else and Kendal sighed, chewing at her lip. She did not really want to start an argument before their trip, but things needed to be laid out. 

“After Jack—“ A vase vanished upon the windowsill and Kendal continued without a hitch, “I thought you’d come to understand some things about others and yourself, Dione. You cannot save everyone.”

The look Dione gave Kendal was both withering and carried something neither wanted to admit, probably would never express to each other in words.  _ I suppose you are a goddess _ , he had snarked to Dione at the end,  _ only a Creator would cry at the loss of my life. _ If that memory was possibly floating behind her eyes, Kendal could empathize. However, it did not mean she agreed with every choice Dione made. She would be checked, lest she became another Tyreen in the making.

“What do you know,” Dione pouted, realizing she had given too much of herself away from her previous glare. “I’m the goddess who rules over this galaxy!”

“No, ho, you’re just as human like me, as human as Sirens are anyway.” Kendal said. “But seriously, Dione, I actually don’t want to kill you.”

-

She found the hidden ECHO and listened to Dione’s calm and detached voice speak as gunfire echoed behind her, during whatever time from there to now, guiding her to the Maliwan pistol that waited in the dusty forgotten duct. Their encounter and the voice now did not match. Dione’s voice from the past could never be sharp or cold. Tyreen coughed as she cleared spider webs from her path with a tap of her finger. They disintegrated upon contact, surprised and disgusted, Tyreen realized the webs were sweet and the spiders were not—cotton candy and bacon? What the fuck?

_ “If you’re finding this, Zealot, know that you and I are both in tough places. How do you say? Between a rock and a stone? Diamond? Either way, I understand the thrill of fear that flows through you now. They’re out there aren’t they? Trying to corner you in this very room where I am cornered now. _

_ In the Home that abandoned me, we refer to this as, this feeling, as a hunger. Do you fight your fear? Do you fight your pride? Live or die in glory— _ pstt _ , I wouldn’t mind the exercise personally, but you’re not me are you, Zealot? _

_ Quick, to the right—up! Hide, Zealot, live to find me.” _

Footsteps thudded below from the ECHO and Tyreen looked forward to the box, imagining Dione crouched in this duct. She didn’t sound scared, yet she plainly stated she was and yet—

Dione’s voice continued:

_ “Zealot, I’ll leave this gun for you. Find my voice. Live. Spread the Void.” _

Tyreen flicked open the dusty box and inside its ridiculously velveted surface laid a Maliwan pistol. The surfaces of it gleamed pearlescent, cut with curved lines towards the end. The remaining space was filled with green. She lifted her ECHO over the pistol, reading the score, the number of nines was alarming in that and the reported outputs. Overall it seemed fitting for a gun called  _ Electrifying Scripture. _ Dione’s personal note?

__My mouth is filled with your praise.,_ _

Tyreen’s mind whirls with possible clues until she exits the air duct, brushing dust and webs from her arms. Her own Zealots turned to face her, attentive to her needs now that she returned to their presence. She shot the first in the face, shrugging and pressing her lips together in a reluctant smile as the shot of radiation landed between their eyes. It was at the second shot of electricity that emerged from the gun that proved it was the one that Dione mentioned.

“That’s right,” her voice sighed from the speakers of the pistol. “You’re doing such a good job killing for your goddess.”

A feeling went through Tyreen, caught between hot and cold as she shot the third zealot in the thigh. At the screaming, Dione’s voice asked her with sultry tones, not that much above a normal speaking volume,

“I love that! You know how to kill, for your goddess, don’t you?”

Tyreen pulled the pistol closer to her body, looking at the body of it once more. Her face grew warmer the longer she gazed at it, trying to understand what she liked most about the idea of Dione possibly watching her destroy life so easily. No, it was her seductive praise and Tyreen’s own desire. Tyreen massacred half the recovering camp, raging a chaotic path as her newfound pistol taunted,

“Don’t you want to live for me, your goddess!”

Tyreen knew this would be the closet should ever allow herself to Dione.

-

Dione and Kendal’s ship blasted into the space between Meridian and Eden-6 keeping to the shadows of the two planets before Sanctuary was able to get off the ground. The Calypso Twins struck the remaining Crimson Raiders in a sneak attack that left Lilith without her powers or at least her life. Kendal and the others were pissed about it, luckily too wrapped up in the situation that when Dione agreed to guard the ship while they took time to regroup with Lilith, alone, no one noticed it was strange. Dione did what was required of her, of course, but she contained herself to her quarters in her spare time. She cleaned her gun collection, arranged her wall of legendary finds, and made sure Felicity’s patches downloaded completely when they came. 

Yet, she paced when there was nothing to do. Her mind wandered in anxious circles; was it better to send Craig, Tyr, and Ken with Kendal instead of going herself? Kendal made a point that it would be haphazard for all the Sirens to be so close together—it was easier to hide on Pandora than jump across the blank space into unfriendly territory. They all realized the extent of Tyreen’s power after she took Lilith’s within her own and perverted its use to spread her cult to the stars. The paranoia was wise but it was not all. Kendal had stopped in front of Dione once the others had filed out of the bridge, her light eyes focused on Dione’s own, and not many cared to hold either of their gazes on a good day, so she had known Kendal was about to be stubborn about something.

“I’m betting I can draw her out,” Kendal had said to her, “I’m betting you can stop her once I piss her off.”

“Subdue her?” Dione asked for clarification.

Kendal smirked, “I mean I hope you’d avenge me if your new crush kills me in a jealous rage.”

Dione sputtered a protest in her mother tongue, no less, as Kendal turned to exit the bridge.

“Don’t disappoint me, Dione. I’ll send you a signal when I’m ready for you to follow me.”

“Kendal! Follow  _ you _ —Hey!”

But nearly five days had passed by now if they had been on Pandora and there was nothing aside from Tyr’s voice crackling from her ECHO with a “We’re all accounted for.” No signal from the map displayed on the bridge and nothing from her ECHO—

“Hey there, superfans, across the galaxy!”

Tyreen and Troy’s holograms appeared on the bridge console and Dione’s brows drew downward. They were close then, she thought, as Tyreen raised a hand during her energetic performance while Troy stalked behind her, keeping his eyes on the camera. Dione noticed the disconnection between their postures and maybe the front was not so unified—was it Kendal?

“So it seems we have some heresy and some defectors,” Tyreen could not keep the rumbling frustration out of her tone. “All thanks to some rumor in an attempt to make me the bad guy, well, I mean to some people I could be bad but not to you, right, superfan? That is to say, some things need to be stated. “

Tyreen paused in front of the camera, finally meeting the viewers gaze head on.

“It’s an obvious and stupid statement to make---“

“Tyreen,” Troy hissed, his eyes widening a fraction before he resumed his path to the right of her.

“The Children of the Vault are in no way affiliated or permitted to associate with heretic cult known as Devoid. For you idiots out there—We don’t fuck with them!”

Dione scoffed, “Kendal sent them an ECHO copy I bet.”

Tyreen continued, “Feel free to bring me any Devoid you find COV, I hear she’s not home to care anyway! Snooping around with her friends to try to tear me down—do you really want to follow someone who makes fake promises? I wouldn’t!

Besides, my sights are bigger—I intend to raze the stars until the vaults are mine!”

Troy laughed, “She means ours, superfans! Eradicate Devoid and lets sweeten the deal—anyone who brings us Dione will get a front row seat to her sacrifice! We all can’t wait until that day, right? Anything else,  _ Tyreen _ ?”

“R-remember, like, follow, and  _ obey _ !”

Dione narrowed her eyes at the holograms until they vanished; the galaxy map reappeared in an instant, a glaring red dot to the left of the ship's own signal. Athenas and when her ECHO beeped a moment letter with a personal message request, Dione accepted it without looking. She saw UNKOWN displayed on the screen too late.

“Who is this?” she demanded. 

“Hello,  _ fraud. _ ”

“Oh, it’s not every day, I get a call from such a  _ tiny _ , insignificant goddess.“

“Cut the shit. I—uh—“

By time Tyreen hesitated, she reached the elevator that would lead her to her floor. The elevator was quick but it still gave Tyreen enough time to continue whatever she needed Dione to hear while she dressed. Yet as Dione entered her personal room, Tyreen had reduced herself to trembling breaths on the other end of the line.

“Say it. You went through this trouble to hack my secure line,” Dione sighed, yanking her jumpsuit over her chest so she could put her arms through. Eventually, she was forced to place the ECHO on her bed. Agitation was stealing Dione’s focus now as she fumbled with her holster to face the ECHO if it was Tyreen herself. “I’m hanging up—“

“ _ No _ ! I mean, hear me out.”

“I’ve already listened to you put a price on my head to your cult, Tyreen. This better top that.”

“He made—ugh,  _ whatever _ !--I found your gun, you little faker,” Tyreen’s bravado came back full-force and Dione rolled her eyes, yanking a jacket from the hanger in front of her. “The audio was underwhelming, but I do appreciate the radiation—I always wanted one—but I’m dying to know who you’d have to kill for this blueprint?”

“I’ll be sure to whisper it in your ear the next time I see you.”

“Ooo,” Tyreen coed, “I hope it’s soon since I just received word that a group of your friends is on Athenas. I have a couple of questions as to how that audio leaked, especially to my dumbass brother first. So yeah, for every answer I don’t like a piece will go missing so I hope there’s something left by the time you get there!”

“Don’t try me, bit—“ Dione growled but the line went dead.

-

_ “Don’t fuck this up, Ty, we can kill two big dumb birds as long as you keep your cool.” _

Troy’s words were feeling empty now; Kendal rolled to her feet aiming her rifle at Tyreen’s head and she vanished before the shot rang out, appearing to Kendal’s right, placing her hand on the side of the Torgue assault rifle. Tyreen refused to let up her pressure, her little fox and hound game of getting Kendal to expel her power in small explosions that trembled the ground for minutes afterward. Kendal’s control over her powers was more precise however and Tyreen shortly found herself blown backward from a forward blast just for her. She grunted as she slammed into a rock behind her, stopping her ungraceful roll across the ground.

Kendal chuckled, “What’s this? Only one of you decided to play today?”

When Tyreen appeared behind Kendal, the dark-haired woman shuffled to the side, laughing as she dodged her grasp. 

“Not so fun when it’s you having to chase me, huh?” Kendal asked while Tyreen glared at her. “You look like you haven’t eaten today, is that why you’re struggling?”

She had feasted on a group of Tinks, but it was a light snack, not so much a meal. Tyreen clenched her left fist, wondering if Troy would take a shot ahead of time or if she should drop pretenses and show her following what their God-Queen could do. She supposed the latter would be the most fun as she lifted her left hand, her blue tattoos flaring with light as dark tendrils of energy emitted from her hand. The grass below her wilted and browned, filling Tyreen’s mouth with watery-sugar. Kendal grinned in the excitement of the fight turning serious.

“Touch me with that and you know I’ll put a bullet in your temple. Hopefully, you’ve saved up,” Kendal warned, stepping forward while she switched her assault rifle to her back and replaced it with a Jacobs pistol.

“You won’t be coming back from this. Lilith’s powers taste delicious every time I use them and I wonder what explosions taste like? Mangoes? Let me find out.”

Troy’s voice shouted suddenly from Tyreen’s ECHO, “Sis, drop!”

Tyreen dropped to her knees, fear making her hair stand on her neck as she felt the bullet pass over her. She looked back and Dione’s form was static before the cloaking technology she had shut down. Her angry pink eyes managed to track the direction the bullet had come from, from the trail of fire it had left behind, and glanced to the skyline before looking down at Tyreen. Below her white bangs, Tyreen’s grey eyes went dull with hunger.

“A two-piece for free ninety-nine?” Tyreen chuckled faintly. “Don’t mind if I do.”

“I’m sober. This won’t be like last time, my friends are hurt, you see?” Dione asked motioning behind her were the others laid unconscious from Tyreen’s surprise attack. “I have to give you a spanking. Bad TyTy,  _ bad _ !”

For emphasis Dione clapped her hands. Tyreen lunged upwards and Dione fell backward, rolling to her feet a few feet away, a Maliwan SMG aimed at Tyreen when she stood. Tyreen’s foot moved to the left and Dione shot in front of her boot without breaking eye contact with her. She spared a glance behind her and now Kendal was gone.

“Leave him,” Tyreen snarled.

“Dishing out the threats and can’t take them, now?” Dione asked, remaining still as Tyreen vanished from her sight. “If your brother was smart he would have left his camp the moment he didn’t kill me, but seeing as only one of you is down here fighting me, I’m sure Kendal is halfway to him by now.”

Tyreen remained unseen and silent. Dione listened to the sound of the bells as they struck the hour. When she dropped her gun to her side and turned around, she felt the knee hit the side of her gun arm, meeting Tyreen’s gaze for a brief moment before the momentum of the attack tipped Dione backward. But it was all a ploy because Dione used the momentum against Tyreen to make sure she was the one at the bottom of the fall as they landed. Dione smirked at the look on Tyreen’s face once she realized she was the one facing up and pinned to the ground. Trapped, she let out a frustrated wail, squirming but Dione’s thighs were like iron around her chest, the curve her boots digging painfully into Tyreen’s forearms and wrists as she tried to move.

Above her, Dione watched with a blank gaze, blinking slowly, as the anger and embarrassment coursed through Tyreen with nowhere to go but her eyes. Her lower body aching became more apparent to her and she regretted getting off before coming to Athenas, now more ready for the possibility of the next one than the imminent threat on her life. The lines blurred with her desire and she turned her head to the side and huffed, “Get off me!”

“Beg me,” Dione said.

“Can’t—“ Tyreen gritted out, Dione’s weight clouding her thoughts, as she thrummed with agony. Her fingers dug into the soil.

“Pretty sure you can, your little mouth still works, doesn’t it?” Dione asked viciously, grabbing Tyreen by the chin, moving her jaw as she emitted soft gasps at the motion, “’ _ Goddess Dione, please remove your posterior from my sternum _ .’”

Tyreen jerked her chin from Dione’s fingers, her voice rising with panic as she demanded again, “Get off me!”

“ _ Really _ ?” Dione teased, leaning closer, “I’ve already told you what to say, Tyreen. I’m fine watching you squirm while you tell me how much you  _ don’t _ want this.”

Tyreen smiled bitterly, her anxiety thickening her voice as she replied, “If I was sure I wouldn’t kill you, I would—now get the fuck off me, before I—“ Dione had moved from her seated position, but it seemed it was only to lean over her move, their rounded noses barely brushing.

“I do not fear death,” she murmured.

Tyreen felt her lips tremble as she stammered, “A-Are you insane? I’m lucky if I can even get fully undressed before there are husks on my bed and you…definitely have the basement flooded—I—“

Dione’s eyes slipped close and the pressure of her lips eased the trembling within her own. After a moment, Dione pulled back with a satisfied grin. “So far, I’m still here. But let’s see---“

When Dione twisted slightly while keeping her eyes on Tyreen, the latter did not realize that her following stroke at the apex of her thighs would be enough to send her to the edge. Her hips jerked into Dione’s fingers as the woman hummed above her before drawing her own tattooed hand across Tyreen’s gloved hand.

“Waiiit,” Tyreen gasped weakly, pressure and pleasure already tightening in her body that all she could do was shake at Dione’s fingers, frustrated, terrified, and always wanting what she shouldn’t. She had not changed and the hunger swept over the fear that the only other person who could possibly give a damn turn into a hard shell before her eyes. “ _ Dione _ \--!”

Dione breathed against her cheek, “Don’t you want to come for your goddess? Pay your tribute?”

Tyreen’s groan tore from her throat and she hissed a curse shortly after. Dione’s finger worked under her clit through the rough fabric of her jeans, yet her hand rose higher up her gloved hand. Every movement was now sending a shock of pleasure through her body, fluttering her eyes. Her fingers quickened and the pleasure increased in intensity, stealing her breath and coherency. The first flash of white, the precursor to her orgasm, snapped her eyes open and Dione shuddered above her. 

“You’re doing so well, Tyreen.”

Something in her was breaking. Something in her wanted to cry.

“Yes—“ Tyreen relented. “God—“

Troy’s voice cracked over her ECHO.

“Ty! Big birdie 1 is hot on my heels— _ yikes! _ — _ where the fuck _ are you?”

Reality sobered her and the sensations soured so suddenly that Tyreen barely registered Dione’s grunt of pain as she pushed the other Siren off of her. Kendal had left, Dione’s friends were probably waking up, and when Tyreen turned her angry gaze back to Dione while she replied to Troy she was surprised by the look there. Her eyes were as dark as the night from the bar, her smile a bit too wide.

“Don’t think you can trick me like that again, slut,” Tyreen growled, adjusting her collar, hopefully, to hide the way her legs were still shaking as the rest of her oversized jacket followed the movement. “See you at the vault.”

Dione held up two fingers, an old symbol for peace before she spread them with her tongue. Tyreen growled at her and Dione vanished, only a faint laugh and a brush of air to tell her Dione had fled somewhere in the direction of the forest ahead.

-

Tyreen was a trembling mess, soul, and body, and Dione pushed her over the edge and kissed her at the same time. The realization Dione was touching her and she was still orgasming, pulled the second one out of her so fast, she was embarrassed that Dione could only muffle so much. Tyreen gripped Dione through the quaking of her body in the aftermath was something Dione took advantage of, slipping her hands between Tyreen’s vest to reach her skin. She breathed in wonder at the sensation, her skin feeling as if anything could send her over the edge again. While Dione explored Tyreen’s mouth with her own, Tyreen was welcoming to it.

At least Dione was sure she would be and the seedling of doubt rolled her against the shores of reality once more. She was alone in her room upon the ship, her body aching pleasantly, and her hair curling from the humidity now built up in the corner where her bed was. She tossed her arm over her forehead trying to fight the urge to reach to her ECHO at her left and make a call that she shouldn’t. But the subconscious idea persists. Tyreen’s voice and bitter eyes run through her mind. 

“No!” Dione groans, digging the heel of her hands into her eyes as if she could press the knowledge of Tyreen out of her brain. But the way Tyreen had stared her down after they destroyed the Ravager sent an excited chill down Dione’s spine even now. Dione had pissed off Tyreen, which was the point, but she was damned that Tyreen could wear it so well. Realizing she was visualizing the tiny woman once more, Dione groaned and buried her face into her pillow. She could feel her hot face warm the air trapped in the pillowcase quickly and maybe, just maybe, Dione would die from the embarrassment she currently felt.

Dione knew she should be thankful for the silence from her ECHO. Things had not quieted down since Athenas, but Dione had not received any personal calls from Tyreen. But they weren’t friends. All that was between them was a strange sexual tension that spawned from hate. She repeated this to herself at least five times before she groaned and picked up her ECHO. Dione muttered a string of curses, praying she remembered the code for Tyreen’s channel as she did not trust herself to save it to her ECHO directly. Soon the device rang, a sweet chip-tune before the other end picked up. Silence. Breathing.

“Hello?” Tyreen murmured after a while. “If you don’t speak, I’m hanging up.”

Dione realized her breath had left her and she gasped, trying to sound as calm as possible. Her voice still spiked towards the end, “Hello, TyTy~”

Tyreen’s sound of irritation did not sound so…gruff by her ear. “What do you want, faker?”

Dione hesitated as she looked at the first door that was the exit to her room, knowing another lay in front of it. Even if someone were out there, they wouldn't be able to hear their words…but everything remained in her throat. She wanted to say so much before but she found her lips trembling as she remembered Maya--

“I shouldn’t—“ Dione began, physically shaking her head to remove the weeks of the same haunting images; Maya dying. “—b-be doing this. I—“

“But you want to, right?” Tyreen asked her, her voice oddly calm. “Talk to me? Because—uh—I could use an ear right now, faker.”

“…”

“I’m sorry. About your Siren friend. I’m…just as shocked as you are.”

It wouldn’t bring her back and it wouldn’t erase the tears to come, but hearing the words leave Tyreen’s mouth caused Dione to lean against the wall against her bed. She cradled her ECHO in her arms loosely as she listened to Tyreen’s quickening breathing. Her nervousness was infectious as the weight of her admission settled in her gut. Dione let out a shaky breath as a tear threatened to fall from her eye.

“Dione?” Tyreen’s voice was softened by worry.

“I don’t know if I should hate you, because everyone else does. I don’t even know how you feel-- _ think _ about me anymore. I—“

“Dione,” Tyreen said in a way that caught her attention, some bite, “I’m glad it wasn’t you—“

Dione’s breath left her, “Tyreen—“

“But since you need to  _ help _ me,” Tyreen snarled over the line, “and since you need to  _ hate _ me, how about we make it easy on ourselves? We’re enemies and its better that way.”

“T-that’s not what I want,” Dione gritted out.

Tyreen’s resolve cracked and shrieked, “ _ Do you think this is what I wanted? How do you think I feel wanting—wanting— _ “

“What do you  _ want, _ Tyreen?” Dione asked, just as heatedly. “That’s the reason we’re in this mess isn’t it?”

“E-everything and knowing I’ll just kill it before I’ll fully grasp it is,” Tyreen sighed in defeat. “The most  _ agonizing _ pain imaginable.” Again Dione was humbled into silence and Tyreen laughed or cried, she wasn’t sure. Either way it sounded hollow. She took advantage of the silence and continued, “Do you get it now? Talking to you, touching you--- _ its torture _ .”

-

Promethea’s peach skies were clear of Maliwan troops and her roads to the outskirts of the metroplex were cleared as well. Things were not great despite the majority of them being together—Kendal was…not herself. The death of Maya completely undid the seven years it had taken Kendal to come around. Kendal had died with Maya and Dione could barely face the truth of it; they had promised that Roland would be the last. So she burned tar and wetlands in her cyclone from one side of Meridian to the other, hoping the roar of her booster would burn the sound of Kendal crying from her mind.

She outran most COV that crossed her path or she was ignored entirely, not that Dione was out looking for a fight tonight. A horn blared behind her before going into a series of unnecessary short honks and Dione waved her arm, motioning for the other car to pass her. She intended to glower at them as they passed, but it was Tyreen who sped forward to keep pace with her in her own cyclone. Dione frowned, reaching for the lever and her wheel glowed before she boosted herself around the corner in a tight arc of light. A few moments later, once her boost had cooled, another horn sounded at her side. Dione narrowed her eyes as she looked at Tyreen. The leech was holding her gaze, brows drew together, and grey eyes the palest Dione had ever seen them. Yet she eased her cyclone closer to Dione’s, one that was much sturdier than Dione’s own. It was covered in COV colors and Tyreen looked very much the proud Queen upon her stead.

“Ride with me won’t you, faker?” Tyreen purred, lips stretching into a smile.

“We’re enemies,” Dione spat, jerking her wheel towards Tyreen’s suddenly to cause the other to back off. 

“Aww, did I hurt your feelings?” Tyreen yelled over the roar of the engines when Dione revved hers up to jump up on the ramp. She heard Tyreen’s cackle below her before her own tire spun as it skidded to a halt, before the engine snarled. Dione was already upon the road above and speeding off in the opposite direction, but Tyreen caught up to her again and waved a jaunty greeting.

“Where?”

Tyreen’s smile was everything but angelic as she replied, “The other end of the outskirts. I wanna show you something. Eridian, you’ll love it, cupcake.”

Dione stuck out her tongue and laughed, “Thanks for the tip!” before speeding away from Tyreen.

Tyreen silently pulled up to her again, eyes focused on the road ahead—gaining ground. Dione frowned, noticing the abandoned car ahead of her and Tyreen boxing her between her vehicle and the highway divider. She activated her booster, the energy wrapping around the holowheel of the cyclone, causing the wheel to ease in traction. Delicately she turned the wheel while easing her foot from the gas—she crossed behind Tyreen before speeding off again. They zipped to the other end of Meridian baiting one another into dangerous maneuvers and jumps before they both tucked into the tight tunnel that would lead them to the outskirts. Their wheels broke onto dusty gravel and they skidded to a stop in front of each other, chests heaving with excitement—a grin of understanding passed between them. It was rare someone could push you to the edge, trusting in your own ability to save yourself. 

“I’m surprised you’re so good with a stick,” Dione chuckled, breathlessly, brushing flyaway hairs from her face. “Aren’t you a virgin?”

“Bitch,” Tyreen huffed, pulling into a slow crawl ahead of her, heading towards the abandoned buildings. “You’d be surprised at what I know despite my condition.”

Dione followed her, her own cyclone rattling against the denser gravel. “So you’re taking me out back to kill me?”

“If you’re so paranoid, feel free to turn around, sweetie.”

“I should destroy your cyclone and leave you here.”

They reached the camp after having the clear it of some straggling Maliwan soldiers. A wave of her hand and those before Tyreen crystalized and a similar motion from Dione and pieces if not all, the soldiers were gone. An effortless display of power had them both considering each other with a brow raised and lips pursed. 

“So, uh, where do they go?” Tyreen asked Dione.

“If you turn them into eridium, why can’t I use their husks to buy things?” Dione asked Tyreen.

“Touche, faker.”

Deeper into the encampments they went, coming across bandits wearing their old Maliwan colors. The fools that rushed forward were filled with lead from Dione’s SMG and as one managed to break ahead of the last wave, she raised her gun. Energy crackled up and out Tyreen’s left arm and the bandit froze in place, his body hollowing and drying before their eyes. Dione was undaunted, simply stepped around the husk and continued firing upon the enemy bandits. Tyreen watched as she freed her left arm from her gun, snapping her fingers towards the line of them rushing forward. The lucky ones were killed instantly as black dots appeared and vanished with faint light like demented fireworks that emitted no sound. There. Gone. Bodies dropping and screaming echoing and Tyreen’s mouth watered at those left struggling to get away. Dione stepped over the line of bodies, firing at the remainder that scattered to the winds. She sucked her teeth as they managed to escape while the lives behind her were snuffed out one by one by Tyreen. 

“You think fear would spoil the taste,” Tyreen chuckled, looking over to Dione as she stood by her side. “I like this little truce we’ve got goin’ today, might have to make you my personal chef, sweetie.”

“Sweetie?” Dione asked as she spotted a box ahead of them and cut a path towards it.

“I’ve been able to taste the remnants of you,” Tyreen admitted, pacing ahead of Dione while she removed the leftover ammo in the box. “The best thing I’ve tasted yet.”

Dione shook her head as she stood to catch up with the slightly shorter woman. “Glad to know I please your sensitive tastes.”

Tyreen scoffed, “It pisses me off.”

She stopped inside a makeshift bunker, looking towards a strange formation of rock---the black surface swallowed every color in the room and the edges were too straight, too perfect. Tyreen steps before It with Dione slow to follow, both off-put by the invisible aura the rock was emitting. But there, a sigil glowed—flaring a reddish-pink as they stepped closer.

“So I’ve found out a few things about us Sirens,” Tyreen began, removing her ECHO from her side. “Did a little digging and heard of these weird structures all over the galaxy, some sort of audio diary.”

“And?”

“And,” Tyreen snarled, cutting her eyes at her, “You seem smart—I want your opinion.”

Tyreen stepped forward and touched the engraving and the image flared up with light once more. Shortly a voice followed, echoing, hissing, and she began to speak. It chilled Dione’s blood as her name and a blurry image of a hooded face came to her mind.  _ Nyriad. _

_ “I am Siren. Like the Destroyer, my kind has been called by many names. Oracle. Angel. Witch. Rarely are the names used kindly. I used to hate the ones who feared us, believing them ignorant. I think now, after what I have done, I better understand.” _

“Yeah,” Tyreen breathed at Dione’s shaking eyes. “You feel it don’t you?”

_ Agony _ . One similar to Tyreen’s and one similar to Dione. 

“I have another one I found, managed to record the audio…Dione?”

Dione blinked, dropping her eyes to Tyreen. She looked visibly shaken and Tyreen assumed whatever she felt was just as different and strange as when Tyreen first discovered one. Nyriad spoke again. She spoke of sisters and their braid unraveling, how they scattered to the stars. Tyreen’s hand was trembling slightly as she looked up to Dione expectedly.

“This power is passed on,” Dione murmured, dropping her eyes from Tyreen. “And it seems we’ve been looking for each other…all this time? What  _ the fuck _ …”

“Crazy right?” Tyreen grinned, lifting her hand that carried her ECHO. “If she knows this much, who’s to say she doesn’t know a way to help me, I mean—ahahaha, at some point in time Sirens used to be in like their own cult.”

“Family, Tyreen, is what we used to be. But Nyriad took herself from us—and—I never got to say goodbye…” Dione’s breath hitched and she pressed her hand to her cheek, surprised at the tear that fell from her eye. The feeling of...longing clung to her lashes in the form of unshed tears. “Uh—what? W-why am I--?”

Tyreen dropped her hand drawing her eyes up and down as tears pooled and fell from Dione’s eyes. “You alright there—“

_ Why won't you take me with you!? _ A voice that was not Dione’s own asked in the back of her mind and it was familiar yet painful to hear. A cavern of echoing sobs followed when the question was met with an expression that Dione couldn’t see, but feel--a decision made without her consent or consideration. 

_ There’s no need for you to die _ , Nyriad said, always regretful and melancholy,  _ after all, you’ve always controlled your— _

“Dione! Look at me!” Tyreen was screaming.

Dione stepped away from the rock, staggering against the table behind her. Her eyes snapped to Tyreen and she made a horrible gagging noise, feeling her power rise to the surface within her. Too fast the power surged, robbing her tattoos of their blue hue and she turned away from Tyreen gulping down air as she felt the urge to vomit overtake her again. She felt the heat of Tyreen’s body close in on her left and the drag of gloved fingers up her spine felt familiar and foreign and that was also something that was hers and not. This brought on another wave of emotional pain from the depths of her, so unbidden that Dione let out a whimpering noise. 

_ Don’t leave me, Nyriad. _ Another plea from the woman buried in her cells.

“ _ No _ ,” Dione sobbed.

“For some reason, I cry too…when I find these, but I don’t know why,” Tyreen told her, her hand flattening against her jacket at her back. “It’s such a painful feeling, like when I look at the stars—like when I look at you, now, I feel like there’s something I need to say to you but—“

Dione was looking at her now, her breaths coming out raggedly from her lips. 

“I thought it might ease the feeling of wanting to  _ devour _ you,” Tyreen continued her rambling as the tears began to cease rolling down Dione’s cheeks. “I thought…it might tell me how to touch you.”

“Tyreen,” Dione sighed as she reached towards Tyreen’s hand, but the latter moved before their skin could touch.

But her mind rolled  _ Nyriad _ around as if Dione knew her, as if it was her and not Tyreen standing before her.

“But! Here we are again, all I can do is spread some misery before I end your life.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m dead,” Dione grunted, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket. “Stop talking like there’s no other way! Stop talking like  _ her _ ! She’s  _ dead _ but you’re  _ not _ Tyreen!”

“It’s a shame I’m not isn’t it?”

Dione’s slap echoed in the abandoned bunker, the force of it turning Tyreen’s face to the side. Tyreen’s eyes were still wide in shock as she pressed her bare fingers to her bleeding lip and upon the sight of her blood, she tackled Dione within the next second. Dione grunted as the air was knocked out of her and her back collided painfully against the Eridian structure. Dione lifted her arms, blocking Tyreen’s fists raining blows down upon her. 

“Do you—even think—you know—how—I—feel?!” Tyreen demanded with each hit.

The rock glowed again yet neither of them saw it as Dione took advantage of an opening and knocked Tyreen’s fists aside. Dione caught Tyreen’s wrist as the next fist attempted to come down and Tyreen gasped at Dione’s bare hand gripping her arm and then terror filled her eyes. She screamed, sharp and high, kicking Dione off of her and Dione barely registered what she had done. Not until Dione regained enough of her sense of place and with a borrowed sense of fear spiking as she felt Tyreen stumble towards the bunker exit.

“Wait, Tyreen—“ Dione gasped, stumbling to her feet, dazed and still in pain. Tyreen ducked out the low door before Dione could reach her, causing her to dash and slide against the eroded ground to try to reach her. Once she reached her feet again, Dione sprinted across the field to reach Tyreen as she climbed into her cycle. “Ty—Tyreen, please—“

“N-no, I almost—“

“You  _ didn’t _ ,” Dione insisted, reaching a hesitant shaking hand to Tyreen’s. 

“You don’t know what it  _ feels _ like!” she cried, slamming her fist against the wheel. Her eyes were wide and her pupils were two tiny dots, contracted in panic and hysteria. “You tried to make me feel bad about my death wish, but what about yours, Dione?  _ Huh _ ?”

Dione braced her arm against the wheel to lean in towards Tyreen, who only leaned further back to keep the distance between them. “Yet, I remained infallible—wait. Tyreen.  _ Wait _ .” But the other Siren focused her now steady hands on the wheel and the road ahead, eyes dark with pain. 

“Can you imagine killing your own mother in some freak accident? Because I can,  _ because I did _ —because existing has done nothing but take away everyone by using my own hands against me.”

Dione’s arm remained on the wheel as she took in Tyreen’s confession. Her rival considered the conversation over as she commanded Dione to move her arm between thinned lips and grinding teeth. Dione swore under her breath as something within her throbbed painfully and tears began to prick her eyes once more. Tyreen glared at her despite this and Dione’s arm slowly fell away from her vehicle and caught the tear that fell from her clumped lashes before a swathe of dark hair covered Dione’s cheek. 

“It’s been fun, slut.” Tyreen’s sighed words did nothing to stop Dione’s shaking. “Trust me, it’s me, never you.”

“I never want to see you again,” Dione growled.

“That’s a good girl. Goodbye, second-rate god-queen.”

Tyreen drove away while Dione remained in that spot, until the shadows reached to where her tears had fallen and swallowed them.

-

Their holograms competed for legal space in Meridian and Eden-6. Underhanded methods were used to infiltrate the airwaves before the corporations shut the channels down where it mattered. War brewed via subscribers and donors—which goddess would you support?—and more often than not Dione edged out on top. A fact that wormed under Troy’s skin before Tyreen’s and he was beginning to make promises outside of their budget whereas Tyreen was glad to exchange words with Dione over the ECHOstreams instead of face to face. It was not long before his eyes turned on Tyreen behind her back.

She never saw it coming quite like this.

She could not imagine that she could hear the waves so clearly while her body was a live wire to Troy’s rampage. Painfully held still, she could only grit her teeth and beg for Troy to stop. He continued his murderous path against the vault thieves, causing her body to feel like it was going to split. He was taking too much and her words did not cause him to ease up, in fact he tried to console her as she felt her life fading from her fingertips. 

“Don’t give up on me, Ty, we’re almost there!” He shouted back to her.

“You’re going to kill me!” she screamed as through her, he rained meteors upon the vault thieves. The rush of power was magnificent, but amongst the yelling, one scream stood out to Tyreen. Pain flared through her once more as Troy continued his attack and she watched Dione fall from the platform.

_ No! _

A beam of light shot from her to Dione, catching her in a dark phaselock. Relief flooded through her only to be followed by another wave of agony as she thought frantically at Dione. Troy was an incomprehensible sensation of rage shadowing her mind, making it difficult to hold the connection without Troy realizing it.

_ Dione! Please! Help—me! _

Dione’s eyes widened and she felt her shock. Tyreen felt her power, bottomless and wide, rumbling the area as she stepped forward. The entirety of her eyes glowed, the excess dark light cracking from her eyes like lightning. Her tattoos raced into an empty black as Troy’s wing and mechanical arm was caught in two orbs of power. Crunch. His limbs were snapped into splinters of machinery and borrowed power before they vanished. The attack eased Troy’s grip on her and Tyreen felt her body sag as the current of pain lessened. Her eyes fluttered as she watched Dione make a fist with her left hand, drawing it down just as Troy fell to his knees.

Troy’s screaming befit a deity who was suddenly struck down, the way he went on about being maimed. It was enough of a distraction to free Tyreen from the dark orb that encased her, and as she fell towards the inky sea, the roar of the waves welcomed her…

When she broke the surface of the water Leda was reaching towards her.

She always thought It would be fitting to die in the memories her mother left behind. 

But when she came to with a gasp she swore Dione had just yelled her name.

“Good,” Troy said a few feet away from her, staring off the edge of the beach he had landed them on. “You’re awake, Ty.”

Troy cut a long shadow across her as the sunset behind him and he stared at the darkening sky ahead of him. His eyes were dark from his defeat at the vault thieves and his tattoos pulsed with an angry light. But his breaths were erratic. 

“Troy,” Tyreen chuckled, hoping to sway her brother to listen with the sound of humor in her tone. “We gave it a shot, didn’t we? Let’s just quit while we’re ahead—start over somewhere else—“

“No!” Troy shouted, cutting her off. “We’re finishing this, sis.”

“You’re finishing this, I’m out, Troy.”

“Ty—“

“You almost killed me?!” Tyreen cried tossing her arm out, before turning her expression into a sneer. “No, fuck you, Troy.”

“You really want to miss out on saying goodbye to dear old dad?” Troy asked her as she turned away from him. His voice was ragged but even then he managed to carry a teasing tone. When Tyreen paused and lifted her head to look around at the foliage and fauna around them, Troy laughed. “Welcome back home, Ty.”

“I really fucking hate you,” Tyreen growled, tossing her head back to glare at him. “What was the point if—“

Troy coughed back a sob as he laughed. He wiped at his tears with his hand before shrugging and turning back towards the sea. He screamed towards the horizon, much like they did when they were children and their quest for the stars above them was thwarted by their father. It was all they could do back then, screaming uselessly into the sky until the chance for freedom came again. Until Gods older than them decided to look their way. After having tasted it and returned home with the bitterness of their father possibly being right at the end of it all. 

Tyreen stepped forward and screamed.

-

They say when Dione dealt the killing blow to Handsome Jack, she created a work of art with his blood and gore.

They say he was her Judas, the only one she couldn’t hold within her arms, and for that she had made sure he suffered instead of descending with him.

They whispered his laughter only stopped when she took his head, but on the anniversary of his death, you could hear his chuckles in that graveyard. With it the words,

_ “Dione, Dione, my moon and stars, I’m the darkness within every good deed that you do, you know? You see…it’s too late, the shadow of what I’ve done to you only makes you glow brighter! Don’t you get it! How the fuck can we hope to grasp onto anything if your legacy isn’t there to hang over our heads with every fucking mistake we make--- _

_ You see, Dione, we can only hope to be Gods. _

_ But you’re already one, moonlight, so come on~ _

_ Show us mortals what happens when we piss a God off! _

_ Hrk—oh fuck, you’re actually doing it h-huh? You’re going to kill me, huh, kidd— _

_ Wait—Dione…! _

_ ‘M sorr— _

_ A..angel, she’s killing me… _

_ Finally.” _

-

The glow of the purple of the whip around Tyreen’s neck was unsurprising to her. It was one of her father’s favorite toys after all. It was his second favorite way of telling someone hello. She let out a harsh breath through her nose as she felt her power flicker off, grabbing at the whip with a gloved hand, glaring at her father as he exclaimed at surprise at catching her. For one so surprised at seeing his daughter after so long, he did not loosen his grasp upon his whip.

“Here I came all this way to say goodbye,” she spat, catching the attention of the others, and they look upon Dione’s face was just as horrified as she expected. But she couldn’t hold her gaze, couldn’t explain how she was still alive but still worse for wear and the last thing she wanted to see was her father being anywhere near  _ her _ . Tyreen jerked the whip with her hands, absolutely terrified that her father would try to switch tactics and go after Dione, who stood stunned, trying to say coherent words. “How’ve you been, dad?”

“Starlight, now, let’s calm down,” Typhon smirked but the mirth didn’t reach his eyes. They were killer cold, untrusting of his daughter’s presence. 

Tyreen rumbled, “As usual, you seem to be the aggressor in this situation.”

That seemed to falter him, just as it looked like Dione was gaining enough sense to call her name, the whip slipping just enough around her neck that Tyreen was able to yank it away and destroy it. She and Typhon glowered at each other, decades of rage and pain passing between them silently. Finally, with gnashing teeth Tyreen admitted to Typhon that Troy was dying as she spoke and it seemed all she would receive in response was a faint shaking of his eyes. She wasn’t sure what hurt worse; the lack of her father’s response or that she heard Dione swear audibly in response to Troy’s impending death. 

“I need the Destroyer to save him,” Tyreen laughed bitterly after his resounding silence, “Consider it my redemption arc. Goodbye, Dad.”

When Tyreen turned to disappear into the foliage and trees, Typhon’s voice warbled after her, finally admitting his fear and if she believed hard enough, his love for her, “Starlight, you don’t understand! It won’t go the way you think it will!”

But it was Dione’s rough voice, commanding her over the short distance, “Tyreen, just stop.”

It almost—she almost did, but the look she gave Dione over her shoulder hopefully said enough. Dione’s eyes flared pink and she bared her teeth—then she was running towards Tyreen, her rage making her tattoos burn black against her brown skin. Tyreen barely had time to gasp as Dione’s arms fell around her—as the wall of flames appeared around them both a second later and vanished along with them. 

The short tumble through dimensions spat the pair out deep within Nekrotefeyo, a place of Tyreen’s subconscious choosing that was nowhere near where either of them wanted to go. Funny how fate worked things out like this, never giving you what you wanted when you were ready—only when you absolutely needed it before you charged forward on your path. It a strange twist of fate, too, did Tyreen now look down upon Dione as she laid upon her back. Her dark hair fanned about her head and Tyreen’s hands in a beautiful halo of curls that began to tighten from the water’s edge where they rested. Dione’s eyes were still wide with surprise and relief and she was the first to smile, her eyes tilting up as the angry pinks and reds faded into a color closer to Tyreen’s own eye color. Looking down upon her with the scenery of the most beautiful place she hated, Tyreen’s eyes burned with unshed tears. 

A secret wish of hers had come true.

She made a secret bet with the universe, knowing that it was impossible at the time: if she ever wrangled her powers into submission, it would be with the backdrop of Nekrotefeyo and Dione below her. Just like she thought, Dione was too beautiful for this forsaken planet but damn if she did not shine like the stars above looking up at Tyreen like that.

“I thought you died,” Dione whispered.

“I thought so too,” she whispered back. “You’re annoying voice woke me up though.”

“Bad TyTy, you scared me,” Dione laughed-whispered-cried.

Tyreen leaned closer to her, chasing every color that revealed itself in Dione’s irises. Tyreen knew that if what happened next went south, she would gladly lay herself upon the Destroyer because if she could not claim Dione now, her father would be doubly right---there was no point in an adventure without love. As she pressed her lips onto Dione’s soft ones she eased her body down on top of hers. She trembled above Dione as she ran a gloved hand down her side, trying to commit every curve to memory, and constantly terrified that if she simply allowed herself to sink into Dione’s warmth and sighs…there would be no Dione left. Dione’s tongue pressed against her bottom lip and Tyreen felt her eyes clench as she hesitantly parted her mouth to deepen the kiss. How she always wanted. How her very being screamed with it the moment she pulled Dione close at the ruined bar.

If Dione was delicious before, she was sublime now—the richest thing she would ever know.

“Dione,” Tyreen breathed, dragging her hands into her damp hair.

Dione smiled, lazy and soft, “Yes?”

“Can I touch you?” she whispered and at Dione’s laugh she glowered at her until she nodded. Dione reached up to the side of her neck, unhitching the invisible zipper there and exposed a curved line of her flesh from there to her navel and Tyreen whistled, “That’s how it works, huh?”

Dione rolled her eyes, reaching to pull the fabric down but Tyreen knocked her hand away, reaching to the collar of her suit herself. When Dione cast her eyes down to watch Tyreen’s hand?

“Look at me, slut,” she ordered and Dione’s eyes jerked up to hers, surprised. She did not look away as Tyreen slowly pulled the top portion of her suit open to her navel. Heat began to rise in Tyreen’s stomach as Dione’s eyes darkened as her top half was exposed. She felt her hips roll slightly under hers in anticipation, a move that had Tyreen purring a laugh above Dione as she removed the glove from her tattooed hand. As if they had a mind of their own, their tattoos pulsed—once, twice, before Tyreen hesitantly eased her hand down on Dione’s breast. Even here she could taste how sweet Dione was on the back of her tongue and feel how hot her skin grew, her nipple hardening under her hand. She felt like silk and Tyreen dragged her hands up and down Dione’s torso—a mix of shock and pleasure keeping her mouth agape as she tasted how Dione’s arousal was rising. Dione never dropped her gaze.

“Fuck,” Tyreen huffed, scrambling to remove her other glove and open her own vest at the same time, her outer wear long forgotten. “How?”

“Simply, I’m eating your powers as they try to eat mine,” Dione smirked as Tyreen only undressed herself at the waist before dropping over Dione again to return to kissing her. “Nullification---whatever---“

It seemed enough for Tyreen, kissing Dione with more vigor the more time passed. Dione was soon breathless and squirming underneath Tyreen and when Tyreen’s hands returned to her chest—Dione tossed her head back and gave a sharp cry as Tyreen pulled on her nipples, drawing them in out and to the sides. Her eyes fluttered as she tried to hold on to Tyreen’s gaze, who only grinned darkly above her. 

“Not sure if I love your tits or ass more, my pretty little slut,” Tyreen teased, cruelly pulling on her left breast, drawing out a long, weak sound from Dione. “But we have time to find out, don’t we?”

At the increased pressure of her fingers on her nipples, the word yes became stuck and Dione’s throat and all she could do was nod quickly until Tyreen realized what she meant. She slowly released her, drawing out Dione’s pain ridden moan, enjoying the way her hips jerked underneath her. Even when Tyreen made sure the end became the most painful before she released her, all Dione gave her was an appreciative high pitched moan and a relieved sigh once she was free. Dione’s eyes fluttered as she returned her gaze to Tyreen’s, resting on her forearms, as the other woman stood, freeing herself from the remainder of her clothing. Dione watched her with a hungry smile, allowing Tyreen to undress her once she crouched back down to her. 

“I like you, Dione…” Tyreen said, softly, “I…just need you to know.”

“Oh I could tell,” Dione smirked, pulling Tyreen back down once her foot was free. Tyreen made a noise of protest but not for long as she settled against Dione. “I like you, too, Tyreen. Tantrums and all.”

“Fuck you, jeez—“

“Please do.”

“Dione,” Tyreen whined, covering her lips with her own.

When touching became desperate, moving erratic, Tyreen was sure the stars screamed their jealousy at them down below. When the rising orgasms pulled them under and subsequently when Tyreen’s pleasure peaked, splitting her down the middle she knew she had witnessed God.

She had become God, ascending with Dione in her arms as pleasurable oblivion washed over them.

-

As a newly anointed God it was fitting she would be the one to put her twin brother, her twin star, to rest. As his energy returned to her, it corrected, and renamed itself in her name. Black and pink shapes sparked upon her vision filling her to the brim and spilling over. A flash of Troy’s face caused her to grit her teeth, as the knowledge came to her too late. She could right this wrong if he would  _ hold still _ . Pink energy flared from Tyreen’s eyes as she floated within the symbol of the vault, feeling the last remnants of Troy leave her.

_ You did it, Ty _ , he laughed at her, his finger trailing against her palm as she reached towards the stars _ , Selfish bitch, and you fucking did it  _ well.

“ _ Troy _ ,” Tyreen gasped, reaching, as transparent pink wings flared at her back—as if they could take her to reach him, to wherever his soul was going to cause mischief. “ _ I can save you _ \---“

_ No,  _ no _ , sis, I’m on my way to punch God in the face. Besides your hot girlfriend is crying, ‘Ty, Ty,’ and I need to keep my consciousness together so he can feel the full force of this--- _

At the mention of Dione, Tyreen blinked and Troy had fled her mind taking full advantage of the situation. Tears were streaking Dione’s face as she looked up at her—they were crouched underneath the vault symbol and the stars seemed brighter now that the threat of the Destroyer had ceased. She grasped onto Dione’s hand as she pulled it to her chest, watching her eyes shine with relief at seeing Tyreen come back into herself.

“Tyreen!” Dione cried suddenly, throwing her arms around her shoulders and crushing her to her chest. “You scared the  _ shit  _ out of me! Do it again and I’ll kick your ass!”

Tyreen could not help but smile as she held Dione and looked up at the stars. When she screamed in jubilation it was one of freedom and one she knew would wake the gods from where they slept. 

Tyreen prayed  _ they  _ started  _ fucking  _ paying attention. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you're listening.
> 
> ...because it's all love.


End file.
